li qiang took his oath of office on the weekend, promising to make his country even more prosperous, onomic outlook. mr li is expected to be in charge of an economy that's facing a real estate crisis, debt problems and us sanctions. much more on that on the bbc website business pages there were plenty more detail. we showed you the banking stocks but let me show you what is happening across europe. the ftse 100 weighed down by the ftse100 weighed down by the banking stocks. germany bucking the trend only marginally. 0il banking stocks. germany bucking the trend only marginally. oil prices following as well. you're up to date, see very soon. and there is more on china in a little while. you're watching bbc news. the british prime minister rishi sunak has pledged to increase uk defence spending by nearly 5 billion pounds over the next two years to counter emerging threats from hostile states. the funding boost will be confirmed in a new uk foreign and security strategy, to be published on monday. it comes ahead of talks between the prime minister and his us and australian counterparts i

yes, the appointment of li qiang has been _ decades., the appointment of li qiang has been welcome _ decades. yes, the appointment of li qiang has been welcome as - decades. yes, the appointment of li qiang has been welcome as a - decades. yes, the appointment of li qiang has been welcome as a sign i qiang has been welcome as a sign that they are being more economically minded with the past five or ten years being really characterised by a lot of churn and push towards more statism. we remain quite sceptical of the ability to turn the economic fortunes. there have been good signs in the past, a few days that they are a bit more rational, realistic, setting the gross targeted 5% but the end of the day, the composition of the committee is reallyjust where xi jinping is, that shows that politics will be there for a little while longer so we take the news with a grain of salt. i longer so we take the news with a grain of salt-— longer so we take the news with a grain of salt. i wonder some of the events matching _ grain of salt. i wonder so

optimism as well articulate a by the new premier of china li qiang speaking and saying the economy is likely to shape up better than some expect, pointing to the data around consumption and investment. the ftse 100 gaining in the cap up .5%. let's switch it up to see how things play out cross asset. before we get there we had the spinner cpi from fran. francine: consumer prices rising in spain 2.1% from a year ago in march. estimate was 3.7%. this complicates or let's say it highlights the bind that the ecb is in. spanish inflation plunging. core pressures remain. if the ecb looks at the headline number and says it is better-than-expected because inflation is falling but the core is more sticky. tom: pretty positive at least on the surface when it comes to what is happening with inflation trajectory for spain and what it means of course for the ecb. we also heard from isabel schnabel and we will get to that story around what she says is the lack of deposits from european banks. the euro-dollar currently at 1.08. let's get a bigger dive into the various sectors and how things are shapi

doing his press conference, li qiang reminded people several that for years he ran some of the country's diverse and advanced regions, including shanghai, but some of its neighboring provinces. before the pandemic, he was often seen as one of the more pragmatic and business-friendly provincial leaders. he was obviously trying to reassure a global audience now that he's been tasked running the world's second-largest economy with no national governance experience at a time when this economy is facing strong headwinds, both domestically and internationally. but the challenge here, of course, is this is now very much a one-man show in china and xi jinping's agenda is very much still reasserting the party's dominance in every aspect of chinese society, including the economy if and how li qiang is going to use his closer to the top leaders who change or tweak the policy, that remains to be seen. china brokered a deal between saudi arabia and iran, considered a major diplomatic coup by beijing. officials and state media here have made sure the world knows bill. some analysts obviously have trie

asia and the boss of apple tim cook has been busy in china where he's met with china's new premier li qiang officials. let's go live to our asia business hub — and speak to mariko 0i. he's been a very popular man in china? absolute a very popular man and a very busy man for the last couple of days in china where he was basically there are two to an event organised by the chinese government called china development forum. it is also known as china's doubles and thatis known as china's doubles and that is where the new premier li qiang vowed that china is back to business after three years of covid restrictions. —— dive office. aside from tim cook, mary american companies decided not to attend may be because of the ongoing pressures we are talking about between washington and beijing but tim cook definitely has been on a charm offensive, he was spotted visiting one of the apple stores in the capital and that's despite some of his contract manufacturers relocating some of their production lines mainland china to places like vietnam and india and it is because those production disruptions we ke

li qiang is the former communist party leader of china's biggest city, shanghai.ed a pragmatic and business—friendly appointee to manage the challenge of reviving the country's flagging economy. mr li is one of a number of loyalists whom the president is expected to install in key positions, following his re—election on friday. 0ur beijing correspondent — steve mcdonell — has been explaining the significance of the appointment. the story of this congress is the story of xi jinping shoring up the story of this congress is the story of xijinping shoring up his already considerable grip on power. the latest step has been the appointment of the new premier. many were surprised when li qiang was put into this number two position in the chinese government system. that's because he was in charge in shanghai during the disastrous covid lockdown. very poorly handled. however, before that he was known to many in business there is a reasonably good leader. for example he was able to get tesla into the city, the us car—maker, he promoted shanghai's free—trade zone. either way

premier li qiang spoke at the opening ceremony for the kyiv on thursday. was a chance to promote china's built-in road initiative and condemn what is called the abuse of unilateral sanctions. li said beijing will launch measures to expand market access and help asia lead a global economic recovery comes as china is trying to bounce back from the financial toll from three years of zero covid policies, but it also comes as japanese companies may be wary of doing more business in the country. tokyo has called on beijing to release a japanese national who had recently been detained on suspicion of espionage. the employee of the japanese pharmaceutical company lviv had worked in china about two decades . the case could come up during a visit by a japanese foreign minister to china, which is rumored to be planned for this weekend. >>> taiwan's president has arrived in new york for a stop before her tour to central american nations. this is the latest step in the difficult balancing act to strengthen ties with the west while avoiding a crisis with china. after la

the spotlight is on li qiang, the party's second highest official and a close ally to xi. he is widely expected to become china's premier. li keqiang held the position for ten years and has been at odds with xi. xi secured another term as communist party leader last year. this weekend, it is all but confirmed he wl also get a third term as the country's presiden >> china's economic growth has been slowing. do you think it'll be a big topic during the gathering? >> reporter: yes. xi is especially focused on turning the tide on that. part of the slowdown over the years, what's due to china's strict zero covid policy. experts say it is because xi prioritized politics over economi economists. that includes stopping investment by chinese companies and putting severe restrictions on the education industry. the slower the economy, the greater the public dissatisfaction. so the new leadership is going that want to assure chinese that things will get better. >> there are allegations in europe and the united states about china's intentions to provide weapons to russia. what kind of p

ithink about the future in china —— li qiang.irector and best picture. the film's star, michelle yeoh, was named best actress — making her the first woman from an asian background to claim the prize. brendan fraser won best actor for his role in the whale. but everything everywhere also scooped the two best supporting awards — including a first oscar forjamie lee curtis at the age of 64. here's our enterainment correspondent, lizo mzimba. we are joined by freelance tv critic tilly piers who stayed up last night very late to tune into the ceremony. congratulations, welcome to the 95th oscars. cheering after 2022, when best actor winner will smith slapped host chris rock, this oscars kept rather more to the expected script. although inevitably it was the subject of a joke or two. if anyone in this theatre commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the oscar for best actor. laughter the big winner... everything everywhere... ..was the ground—breaking, universe hopping fantasy everything everywhere a

military spending in china will increase by more than 7% this year as premier li qiang said attemptso contain china were escalating. the uk prime minister pledges to deport all small boat arrivals by asylum seekers. after a decade of talks, more than a hundred un member states agree on a treaty to protect the world's oceans. the ship has reached the shore. cheering and applause a huge fire has ripped through one of the rohingya refugee camps in cox's bazar in south—east bangladesh. the charity action aid said their initial assessment was that more than 2000 shelters had been gutted, leaving around 12,000 people homeless. hundreds of thousands of rohingya refugees, who escaped violence in neighbouring myanmar, have been living in crammed camps near the border in bangladesh. earlier i spoke to our south asia correspondent anbarasan ethirajan who started off my telling me where the fire took place and gave me an update on what we know so far. it is a very sprawling camp where tens of thousands of people live in cramped conditions. and these huts are made up of bamboo and sometimes by po

we have the new premier li qiang, at the moment, talking about dismissing talks of a decoupling of chinanting to record trade between the two. talking more about the relationship. the foreign minister elaborated on the subject last week. rowan companies are still confident in china. also china is promising to help the environment for them there. similar comments to the foreign minister last week who says raising inbound investment shows the confidence foreign companies have in china's growth, which is expected to be 5% this year. something that will not be easy to get to, according to the new premier. up next, we will have a look at more of svb, british banks stepping in with a plan to save silicon valley bank depositors from losing their money. details on that, coming up ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪ rishaad: let's have a look at some of the events investors and beyond will be looking at this week. we have the aukus meeting, australia, the u.k. and the u.s. british-designed ships being commissioned. and the federal reserve looking at the economic agenda, the cpa print for february. lookin

military spending in china will increase by more than 7% this year as premier li qiang said attemptsating. the uk prime minister pledges to deport all small boat arrivals by asylum seekers. after a decade of talks, more than a hundred un member states

he lifeng, who will become first vice permit and economic czar, and then li qiang.fferent names, lots of different outlooks, but essentially xi jinping is consolidating and has consolidated his power around his policy and party discipline. david: i unanimous third term for the chinese president. stephen engle there. let's get over now to new york. vonnie quinn is there with the first word news. . vonnie: the goldman sacs banker has been sentenced to prison. he was accused of launderingoldn $2.9 billion to u.s. authorities and more than $5 billion globally for its role in the scam. the fed is assembling a new crypto focused team to ensure it is on top of developments in the asset class. the vice chair for supervision says the group will help bolster the oversight abilities as the central bank works on additional crypto guidance. u.s. officials have taken a more aggressive stance on crypto regulation. norfolk southern is accused of lacking transparency after the spill in ohio. their ceo's faced a tough grilling after one of its trains derailed in alabama. shaw faced a

defense spending is key with taiwan and washington's actions in the south china sea li qiang is poised to be named the new chinese premier. he is widely credited with the exit from zero covid chinese services activity in february accelerated at the fastest pace in fsix months the services pmi expanded to 55 last month up from 52.9 in january. china exit from zero covid brought on demand and export orders look at asian trade overnight. picking up from the positive hand over stateside, but the data out of chwhchina providing boost to sentiment nikkei is up 2.5%. in hong kong, up 0.7%. the manufacturing data came out of china this week and the official and the s&p global pmi coming in stronger than expected and we saw the hang seng benefit rallying at 4% in one session. it had a strong run at the start of the week. we are just building on the gains now. in the mainland, shanghai is up 0.1% in korea, up 0.17% strong session overall and setting the stage for the strong session in europe this morning as well. really a global markets moving in lockstep. we are awaiting data from the uk crossi

only it shows that the government endorses and supports this, that narrative coming out of premier li qiang speeches this week in beijing speaking to the private sector saying our priority is to revive business confidence. but also suggesting the market may be ready to absorb this kind of issuance. if you look at hks, the hong kong exchange operator is benefiting from this story. the expectation is a lot of listings will not be in the u.s. where there is geopolitical risk, but in hong kong, where companies could potentially fetch a much higher valuation. tom: our markets pro over in china, sofia horta e costa, always excellent, joining us out of hong kong. let's check on the sectors as we weigh up that better-than-expected data from china, particularly around services and construction, very firmly in expansionary territory, manufacturing pmi softer but still in expansionary territory. basic resources currently the sector across europe gaining .7%, there is the retail picture given a strong day yesterday on the back of surprise profit beat from h&m retail. as a sector in the first nine minut

monitored by many china watchers, the debut performance by his new premier, the number two official, li qiang recently, li was rather an obscure figure outside of china, mostly known to be a close ally and protege of president xi. most recently the communist party chief of shanghai, who oversaw that brutal two-month covid lockdown in that city. during the press conference, he actually highlighted his career which was for years, he ran some of the country's most economically advanced and diverse regions. not just shanghai but its neighboring provinces. and naturally before covid, he was often seen as one of the more pragmatic and business-friendly provincial leaders. obviously li key yang tried to offer reassurance to a global audience, now he's been tasked with running the world's second-largest economy with no national governance experience at a time when this economy is facing strong headwinds both domestically and internationally. the challenge for him, of course, this is very much a one-man show. mr. xi's agenda very much remains the same in terms of reasserting the party's dominance in e

premier li qiang spoke this week and set activity in march is improving. he also said there is improving confidence amongst the business sector. jack ma reappeared this week, and alibaba and jd tapping the primary market looking to get funding. it's been a good week for news out of china. whether the world will start to pay attention, let's see. there may be a domestic bias in europe when everything in the banking sector is distracting you, but there's a very positive momentum story out of china certainly. dani: i'm with you. we in europe need to be paying more attention, so thank you for helping us do that. looking ahead to send u.s. eco-data, pce core inflation is expected to decelerate to 2.4% in february, and we will get inflation figures in europe grade we have the ecb's governor speaking at the moment saying continue to rate increases will be needed on inflation. some very clear words. we also heard from fed speakers yesterday. all of this was bring in dan moss. we know pce is the fed's favorite target, and it is still way above target and is likely

the npc also elected li qiang, one of chinese president xi jinping's most trusted allies, as the newplomat, now working with the mercator institute for china studies. thank you very much indeed. 0bserving thank you very much indeed. observing the events of the last few days, where does this leave the chinese leadership? what do you take from what you have seen? weill. chinese leadership? what do you take from what you have seen?— from what you have seen? well, let's first of all put — from what you have seen? well, let's first of all put it _ from what you have seen? well, let's first of all put it into _ from what you have seen? well, let's first of all put it into context, - from what you have seen? well, let's first of all put it into context, i - first of all put it into context, i don't think the two meetings of the national people's congress and the consultative committee are anyway nearly as important as the party congress, which happened at the end of last year, where power really comes from, from the party of the control of the military, and xi as president is not that impor

this is the first major address to investors with chinese premier li qiang's speech, calling china responsible geopolitics, an allusion to the global uncertainties and risks and that china will be a certainty. he spoke about what good the belt and road initiative is doing. if you are in singapore, you were looking at what was said by him, weren't you? haslinda: that's right. the presence of them both is that they want a constructive relationship with china. that boao forum on hainan island is a reflection of that. we heard from the malaysian prime minister who mooted the idea of guardrails on trade. if you take this broader, it does suggest how countries in this part of the world are concerned about tensions between the u.s. and china and how that has caused disruptions in supply chains and meant higher costs from everything they buy all across the world, so guardrails in that competition, lots of questions about who should bear it between the two. lots of suggestions that u.s. has been putting a lot of pressure on china trying to contain china's rise, but the u.s. has pushed back on that. ris

li qiang is a close ally of president xi jinping. blic debut after 3 years of strict pandemic measures that have clouded china's economic outlook. mr. li: the environment for private business will get better and better, and their development room will get broader and broader. we will create a level playing field for all kinds of business entities and furer support private enterprises in growing and thriving. amna china has set an annual growth target of 5 percent, its lowest in nearly 30 years. the country's economy grew just 3 percent last year. in ukraine, russian forces kept hammering today at the ruined eastern city of bakhmut. ukraine's overall commander reported the situation at bakhmut is difficult, but said his troops are repelling all assaults. in washington, the institute for the study of war said its assessment is that russia's offensive has stalled. iran now says more than 22,000 protesters arrested in recent months have been pardoned. today's statement could not be confirmed, but it may provide the first details on the sp

you watching out for in this leadership reshuffle, there has been several names floated around, li qiang, is there any one person in particular that you look at and say, that is a big signal for where policies going to go. hao: people tend to look at three key posts. who will be the premier. the premier in charge of economic management. who will be the pboc governor in charge of the monetary policy. and also the cbrc, the regulator overseeing the financial industry. these are the three key posts. i heard that there are new government agencies being formed that are regulating all the other important industries, for example, the i.t. industry, the manufacturing sector, that used to be the ndrc. now we are hearing that a central financial committee is being relaunched into a bigger, more powerful -- rishaad: does that mean more regulation or more perhaps of a warning than anything else? hao: i think, once again, the direction here after the past three years, we have seen increasing regulatory oversight over the national development. i will not be surprised to see more regulation being impos